Interesting Article: Donate Excess Skin From WLS

If any of u are anticipating having plastics done this might be of interest to u. U can donate the excess skin for skin grafts for burn patients or those having reconstructive surgery.

Here is the link:

www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2010/04/07/do-you-have-exce ss-skin-weight-loss-donate-it

It sounds like a noble thing to do but, and this is hearsay, if you have had rashes or if the skin has lost its elasticity it will be rejected.

I checked with a friend who works for the Muscolosketal Tissue Foundation that supplies many companies with human skin for their products and he said they would not be interested in a weight loss patient's skin as it's usually thin and has loss it's elastic properties. In addition, the preferred skin from cadavers is from the upper mid-back which has the thickest dermis.

Sorry to hear that. I was just going by the article that I listed the link for. Would be nice to think that it would be of use to somebody. Thanks for the response.

 The link listed in that article (to the MTF) states clearly that skin removed from people who have lost massive amounts of weight IS welcomed. I think your friend gave you some bad info.

http://mtf.org/donor/living_skin.html

Check it out, I think this would be an amazing thing to do if you meet the criteria. I'm definitely going to look into it and will report back. Thanks for posting, Maria!

I went to a plastic surgery seminar and there was a rep from a company that does collect the tissue from WLS patients they work with a few doctors that do this. I plan to do it. I'm a dark hispanic and they explained to me that they need people of my skin coloring. Hey what else am I going to do with it? lol